LCI International Bulletin Vol 2 No 4

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Contents

Par;o

7ar and the American './orfcers •• I -

Arab versus Jew 7-

Evolution of the Capitalist Berime and the Tasks of 10

the Revolutionary I-Iarxist Party (1st installnent)

•Capitalist Democracy (a contrast between the poo ltion< of Id
Lenin and Trotsky.)

•A aeply ! to lenazio Silono' • 16

rvnmrn r*er“0 nt:’

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',7a r and the American Y-'orkor s

i

The coning Imperialist 7/ar

7/ednesday, March 17 th, 1948 narked a sharp* turn in the general" course t ovnrd the
third '7orld War, If that war burst a upon the world the p opulat ion of the United
States will bo subject to bombing, go rm warfare, atonic annihilation and a host
of other destructive agents developed by sc.icncG in the service of Western Im-
perialism and Russian Imperial ism. This will be the first experience of the
monstrous destructiveness of Imperialist War felt directly by the American pop-
ulation. It will demonstrate to the hilt how American capitalism is bought and
paid for at the price of the lives of the American rc rkc-rs lost on the battle-
fields in the misguided service of American Imperialism.

Frcsldont Truman ' s speech cn that f..tcful day noted what was comnonknowlcdgo to
all. "Russia is the enemy". " Russia must be stopped", " Conrur.ism" must be de-
feated by economic aid to Europe thru the Imperialist Marshal l J lan and increased
military support to Greece, Turkey and China, Thus was pointed up the three sec-
tors in which Russian and Western Imperialism come into . collision. (

#' • ...i * • *• ' '* * •

Russian Imperialism expands through the coordination of a host of satellite statos
into Central Europe pointing a dagger at Western Imperialism, Eastern and Wes-
tern ocuppied Germany and Austria, buffers for Eastern and Western Imperialism
finds the Anglo-Amer icon- French Armies fa.ee to face with the Russian Armies,
unable to release the throttling grip on the keystone of European economy fir
fear of losing strategic positions in preparation for the coming war.

The Mediterranean, controlled by British and American Imperialism is coveted by
Russian Imperialism in its drive to control the near oast and Far East,, nascent
civil war in Italy and open warfa.ro in Greece, while forms of expression of the
war of the workers aga.inst capitalism hove been turned by tho agents of Russ ian
imperialism and Anglo-Amer lean Imperialism into secondary fronts of the coming
Imperialist War.', „ ^ ' , . . . ‘ ,

Oil dominates the politics and warfare of the Middle East. America, England and
Russia maneuver between Arab and Jew in a mad scramble to exploit the oil re-
sources of the Middle East, This is the first act to open Imperialist conflict
in the Middle Ehst which the present Arab- Jewish war is. the prologue.

The Far East, China has been in revolutionary crisis for more than twenty years,
Russia maneuvers its imperialist puppet. armies in war against Chiang-Xai-Shek’s
armies behind, which stands the United States, United States and Russia compete
with one anotnar to exploit the workers and peasants of China in tho spheres of
agriculture, mining, steel manufacture, railroad transportation and the maritime
river trade. Russia seeks recruits by covering itself with the stolen mantle
of the October revolution. The U.S. seeks recruits by covering its puppet dic-
tators with tho mantle of domocracy.

The workers of America only three years after World War II are being whipped
again into a frcn 2 y of national - patriotism in order t: dragoon them into
Universal Military Training and the Draft, The Workers of America are being
called upon to be cannon- fodder for the U.S. capitalists.

World War II is now exposed as a war waged against the working class.

World ’Jar ill will be a war for the continued and increased exploitation of the

p

opprossocl masses ac a c-nscquonco of t'no Imperial irt struggle for the control
of tho world's r.vator ial wealth.

Democracy io the instrument for war of 'Jo r tom Infer ir.lisn, • .

r

Stalin ion is the instrument for war of Russian Imperialism and its 'satellites.-

T he Contradictions of'tlc-S. I mp e-r ial ism

The United States is owned and ruled by the capitalist class. This class functions
behind the cloak of democracy. Actually its rule is absolutist’ and plutocratic.

It is the dictatorship of 'tho capitalist class.

This dictatorship is smoothly hidden by cunning propaganda in the -press, radio,
pulpit, school, and halls of legislation, •

The workers must understand the nature of catitalist society in order to under-
stand and- st'op the tf.S'. 'capitalist drive to war. This drive to Imperialist ~7e.r
III io based on the contradictions of capitalism and the contradictions of
.American capitalism in particular. These are the motive forces behind the drive
to organize the world for the interests of ’"/all St. in rivalry, v primarily, with
Russian Imperialism.

These contradictions are dominated by the general contradiction between -social-
ized production and capitalist appropriation. ■ Flowing from it are , the other
basic contradictions of U.S. Capital ism, characteristic of world capitalism in ..
general. They are the antagonism of the working class and capitalist ,class; the -
antagonism between the organization- of the iridiv itlua 1 . workshop -'and the anarchy •
of production in general; the antagonism between production 'and- the markets* the
antagonism between production and national boundaries* the accumulation of
wo alt h at one pole, over population, accumulation of 'misery, '-'slavery,' exploitation^'

subjection and degradat ion at tho other pole.

r ,,. . , f * • • - * •> «9 V -v»

• • . ... •• * *' . 4 : • * *.-i

The general contradiction between socialized production ancl capitalist appropriat'd,
tion- -inevitably -ends in tho - explosions Of war and revolution. ?■' -.*?<• Hr

* -w/ f

Situation .of the Aner lean Working- Class- '.n. up. e>*t£ ■?. wpvv'V

f MT *T

The percentage return-' on '-net 'worth -'of '-goods - in the. 'first nine months of 1947 / fora .-w
the capital 1st da.es of the United States in the basic' industries .waso-as -df

follows;- ■ ' :

-,ii on ' I ■ 1945 . ' .-i.l'.v • •; ! • *. 19.47 J vl OdT

Food Products II.2# ~ • -19.8^”“ ^ ;

Chemicals,'- Drugs etc. I0 o 9# ■■ • '■ 17 »0# ' " 'O-’i.

Iron and Stool 4 C .7# II»0#

Electrical Equipuont I0<,3#

Autos ft Equipment ■ ' 1 1. .2$

17.7,1

Total Manufacturing

cprr

■ 20 . 0 # .

16 . 45S. m

The percentage increases of Profits, Farm Income, Wages and -Salaries from
1945 to 1947 is the following;*-* *

. - rnm . ’ • ,- ■ ■ • > ! r . ' ' ‘ - : ■ : ■ .

Corporate Profits - 89.9#

Farm Income

P/age 3 & Salaries

- • 35,6# ■

- -: ' 27,9#

: v \

■ . ! - ;i

. V :

•. . .'a

3

The Rate of profit was as follows ;-

1945 - One dollar of claar profit made for ever;/ $7 C 00 in wage s and salaries paid.
1947 - One dollar of clear profit was mile for ever” $4,00 in wages and salaries
paid.

The percentage increase in prices of clothing for the Amor lean worker from 1946-
1947 increased 5* 16, is.

The consumer price index increased from 100 in '1045 to 130 in '1947.

Average weekly earning index went fren 05 in I°45 to 109 in 1947,

Average weekly wages in 1946 wore $42 n I5, living cost $53.. 50 leaving the worker
with a deficit of$II„35.

Average weekly wages in Doconher 1947 wore $52.51, living costs were $66.00 ' ■
a week, leavinc the worker a deficit of $13.49.

The following are the net income profits of sane of the capitalist onterpri sec
for 1946 and 1947, .

7o st inghousG with a 4 month strike in 1046 na.de a prefit of $8,823,846.

In 1947 'Jostinghouso made a profit of $48,006,417, This is an increase of
about 500/L

national Lead made a profit of $0,677,084 in 1046. In 1947 a ’profit of
$12 ,100,132.

General Electric, $48,008,850 in I Q 46.

In 1047 - $95,298,940. ’

DuPont - $112,610,706 in 1046 - 1047 - $120,000,760

P. lorillard (Old Gold Cigarettes] 1946- $3,512,213 - 1947 - $5,515,925.

Bayonior (wood cellulose ) $8,505,906 in 1047

$2,500,044 in 1046
St. Regis. Paper. - $5,563,603 in I°46
. $14,631,325 in I°47
(prop C.I.O. Hews - March 15, 1948]

It is interesting to note that the real wages of American workers increased from
$11 a. week in I°I3 to about $22 in 1047 in terms of dollar purchasing power in
1013. (Based on chart , in lithographers Journal, March 1948. ) g ,jg ■ :

7orkers are driving for wage .increases and better working .conditions under the
leaderships of the C.I.O. and A.F.L. This leadership can only scale down de-
mands and compromise working conditions because they represent the interests of .
the capitalists, and not the .workers, , • }■'<>

The drive for highter .wages and better working conditions is taking place in the
printing industry through the International Typographic Union (A.F.L. ] . The C.I,
Packinghouse 7/orkers are on strike. The C.I.O. Electrical Workers are -.attempt in
to regain its weakened economic position. The United Auto "Porkers (C.I.O.) is
driving for higher wages etc.' The C.I.O, Steelworkers will drive f cr higher
wages in April. The Vancouver local of the Steelworkers C.I.O., British Columbia,
Canada went on' a' five week strike-, "now concluded with IOf! an hour increase and
improved vacations, ilegro cafeteria workers in Washington L.C. are on S. 10 week
strike against government Services Inc., a private corporation which operates
cafeterias in, 42 government buildings; These negro workers. are getting a run- . .
around from the House Labor Committee and the Government Services Incorporated.

The trade union leadership of the C.I.O. and A.F.L. provide" elaborate research
to show that workers wages aro insufficient to meet the needs of food, shelter
and clothing. They prove conclusively' that capitalist profit is fabulously high
and capable therefore of throwing the .workers crumbs of bread and still main-
tain astronomical profits. ' ' ■

cj o

1;

4

The C.I.O. and .'.,P,L leadership lie to tho workers about the cause for their
distress and on the other hand kiss the hoots of the capitalists -on the theme
"can't you spare another dime" while getting hoarse thro- tr and s L endinr the
workers dues on tons of paper and ink to prove to the capitalists that they want
to maintain capitalism, that they are good stooecs for the capitalist exploiters.
But the capitalist class is .always reluctant to compromise and in fact throws
horse' mancur and cow dune -at the labor leadership, which ruins the. workers,
throueJi anti-working class Taft-Hartloy lows.

ijhy is it that shorter hours and higher wages are so touch to get if capitalist
profit is not harmed?

Answer - The U.S. cove romont is the state of the cap itr.lists, Th.c economic,
political power is in their hands* Elis, is their Government. Their state. Kg
natter how little effect increased races and shorter hours nay have on their
profits, they arc able to maintain, the discrepancy between races and profits,
through their state which gives then tho' juridical title to the means of produc-
tion. In other words the key economic question of wages and profits brines us
directly to. the political question. V/hich class rules? And in that question •
is the answer. The C.I.O. and A.F.L leadership hide the fact of. vhidh class rules,
even while it exposes tho statistical relation of wages and profits and the conse-
quent swindling of the working class. .■

.They lie when they promise the workers a now deal if they elect candidates town
office friendly to labor frx* tho Republican, Democrat .Vallace or labor rarty ,.

Camp. ' ■ . .'V

Since wage s can never buy back for the workers the full value of what they pro- .r.
duco under capitalism, .portion and programs aiming at the reform of capitalism:. .
will novor ouccoo.l in making tho ca, it.alint st.ato function in tho historical in- .
tcroots of tho working class* ’.'/ages and prices pose the question of power, r ..i »,-•••
power for tho working class, which in tho oolssurc of at ate power, and the smash- ■;
ing of the capitalist state machinery. t ". dv.:

■ : i »• I'i

■ Regroupment ' in the Gamp of Opportunism

■si neiddnh'i *tl on"

' • . I . . .'.u •: x. UV-.il ' i ' S”.., **• > y * r. . r f,

The dissatisfaction o f American workers with American In L erialisn on .tho oononial -
question, the double oppression of the workers of minority racial and religious
origins,' the general repression against the working: class .(anti-alien drive,
anti-communist drive, .anti-union drive,. Toft-Hartley lav/), the inability of c'api-^
talism to solve its own contradictions except through another Imperialist "v/ar : hab ; '
shaken tho -bourgeoi s . political arena to its foundations.

A nod p ol iti cal scramblo
can capitalism is taking
ing opportunists to drag

eoicie. . '• •• • • '• ■

to maneuver the workers into continued sup'port of Amcri-
p lace • ..It becomes increasingly difficult "for the lead-”
the workers into direct support of the Pj.ier icon bcurgw

" " 1 •' \ ' ' g J . :l n .(f > i,

'Be'TOupncnt is taking p lace -v/ithin - the capitalist trade union- movement.

• - < - . ; ’ ■

•• • • ■ - i . « .1

.The is.suo of the Ant' i-Commnist affidavits required under the anti- working ^ '

class Taft-Hartley lo.v/ was the apparent reason for the s. lit "between Lev/is'C'
United Iline 7/orkers of i America and the American Federation of lablr. .The
real reason for the s k lit, of course, was the rivalry over which trade ■ union ■'*
lord of the A*F.l. council was to have' jurisdiction over key/'sectors df'labor.

At' the present time the nine workers arc on strike f,;.r increased old- age • ^ ^ ■

benefits. This struggle is tying up bourgeois trade and commerce via ship. ‘
and railroad.

5

Tho United Electric? 1 Workers Union and the International Ty. o:;r.. l hic Union ns
well ns segments of the other uni one re in direct collision with Gene ml Electric
and tho Newspaper publishers re a. oct ivcly, on the issues of the closed sho t ,
longer hours, pay, and the anti- communist affidavits dern'iidcd by the cu t itnlistc
in these industries under their T\f t-Hai'tl.cy law.

Politically the bourgeois trade union leadership is abandoning the Truman machine.
As the workers. novo to the loft the trade union fakers and capitalist political
.careerists rush into the breach made by the leftward moving workers in order to
tie then to the capitalist system and its war. nine. The Stalinists, social-demo-
crats, and the. Trotskyists .are willing partners in betraying the workers.

7alla.ee and the Stalinists form a coalition that presents a p e tty-bourgeois pro-
gram to the workers, a program that props up Kussi r n Imperial isr.i and Aider lean Capi-
talism. .V program that caters to the prejudices of minorities just as the other
Boot ions of Opportunism caters to the prejudices of majorities. There is no work-
ing class character to the ’.Vallnce-Stalinist demagogy. Their program is one of
the roads to Imperialist 'Jr.r.

Murray of the C.I.O. and Green of the P..P.L. have set up wheezy machines' for keep-
ing the workers tied to tho Democratic and Republican parties, The ',7allacc-Stal-
inist demagocuos are heading for a temporary sp'lit with the Truman tr~de union
fakers wi thing the C.I.O. Since the demagogy of the Ttollace-Stal inist coalition
•has trapped more workers than the older bourgeois trade union and political mach-
ines originally estimated, they have hurriedly come forth with reactionary quack
panaceas to stabilize their bailiwicks. Democratic party politicians propose a
man on horseback. General Eisenhower for president, Republican party politicians
propoco another man on horseback General Mac Arthur, Reuthcr , who till recently
was Murray's henchman; a no-strike pledge trr.do union politico on the 7ar Labor
Board* in 7orld 7/ar II, and now a 44 hour a-weck can has ccnc out tentatively with
Dubinsky for an ant i- c or.mun is t labor .arty in 1949. The dream of Socialist and
Trotskyist opportunism may come true. . . ' ‘ •

Their function is to give the Imperialist. labor party politics the attractive rad-
ical glitter (.that it requires to . en snarl the workers into support of capitalism-
and . the next Imperialist 7/ar. , * ' / ’■'£ r, . n or, 'ir. ! - w

The working ’ class .can exp. ect nothing but a new round of betray&igat the hands of.p
the ropportunist currents. - t .. L

;d. q-.f v, : . i , ■:■■■'. ■■■ , r !•; ' T!,‘

‘ . 1 The' Main Tasks of the Proletariat ■ ■ > . ... „ . . .',1.

— ( T V 1

Tho p roletariat aunt break with the Anglo-American, Italian and French Imp or ini let
bl.QC.;,, ' ’ . » ’

* *' ' j . *r"

The proletariat must break with Russ ian Imperialism and its satellites.

It ms t wage a struggle against the rearm programs of the. capitalist politicians,
the capitalist trade unions and their., leaders (Murray, Green, Bouther, Thomas,,
and their satellites, Trotskyism, Stalinism and Social-Democracy, ....

The aim of this ' struggle must be the building of a revolutionary marxist party.

The ’fight against the coming Imperialist war is the struggle for the formation
of a revolutionary marxist international.

1 .

6

In the course of the class struggle the revolutionary ;:.rty and International
shall seek to block the war moves of the In; or ini ipf'bloe of ^vws, Russian and
Anorican.' " In the event of nrued conflict .between the . Ii.a crialiets, the revolution-
ary [arty and International shall' sock the de-font .of its own bourgeoisie, .The
Ir.i t orirl 1st; :;ar . ehall bo turned, into civil .var. In the. fire of civil war the.
[roletariat. v.;ill establish its 'dictator chid "a L ;: 'inst /the Bourgeoisie.

Greet inrs

. . To the be coni'. Com vo bo
. .«• ... International is t-Corrun is t tarty

" ■ ;• "... • .... (Italy) '

The /iiueri,can : : fraction (Left' Cbnuin is t- International istr ) sends you. fervid revo- - --
lutionary.greetings.. .To you, who in action-of lone experience kee-[ ■ firm "flic [Tin- *, '
cities of revolutionary marxism against-’ all' : bc'trryal, : .

Yellow -Italian capitalise is in the v/orst crisis of any cr-.[ italist classs in his-.
tcry. To , you is assigned the task of , delivering the first revolutionary blow.

'why? - •' • ■ "• '■••• • eii. ' \ ' ••

The [ol it leal {.abidance. ‘of. -the ..arty is guaranteed by the excellent quality of. the.
Italian fraction.:., . V ...... i ■

Fror.i the -Country -.of ..cement and. steel our aspirations are ;the same as yours but.
without- the .revolutionary [.arty which is the iron base of. the /proletariat# .

liarxisn in this reactionary e.ochwill be confirmed by the great historical forco

of the .yroletari' t. f ;
Prole tar tat ant itho sis

afi# hi ba.-dnerican. Fraction t d 4 "h

■■.'.’iyl if -L i: ;'V '1 t: d". t* Le’ ft : Cocaaonlst . Internationalists"' rtf

•fa •! * r : * *. *' i.'i'i . .. * *\‘ /•,*.’ * i •,•»■■■• f i •* 'i (”• *i» ‘ ■*,** *< w ' '* * <v*f )

7

Arab versa 3 Jew

The right of self determination for colonial, peoples and small nations is
employed by the Russian Imperial ist bloc and the Anglo-American Imperialist
bloc to partition the world into a whole series of colonial and eomi-colonial
satellite states. Their native ruling classes aid this division of the earth
into spheres of exploitation under the guise of movements for national independ-
ence in order to proserve for themselves tho right to exploit their own prole-
tariat within the frame work of imperialist super- profits. The ruling classes
of the colonial, semi- colonial and small nations pose as victims of imperialism
to their own oppressed masses in order to turn tho anti- capitalist sentiments
of the exploited into national patriotic channels only the more surely to swing
their national units into political economic and military support of one Imperial-
ist bloo against another in the bloody struggle that never ends for world domin-
ation. The bourgeoisie of the small nations, and the colonial md semi- colonial
bourgeoisie compete with one another for the favor of one or the other Imperial-
ist power now by negotiation and then by war, behind which are the rival imperial-
ist powers facing one another, maneuvering for position in preparation for open
Imperialist war. . .

Zionism and the Jewish proletariat

Zionism is a national - patriotic movement led by the Jewish bourgeoisie to ,
establish a Hebrew national state. This is the dominant' ruling force in flio
Zionist movement. Swinging bohina it is an intricate network of currents,
cultural , reformist and fascist. The "labor" bloc of Zionism in dominatod by
Social Democracy, Stalinism and -a sprinkling of Trotskyism. The ruling bloc is
domin' 1 ted by bourgeois democracy said fa.se isn in which , again Stalinism is inclu-
ded, . ; ' ■ a

The political history of Zionism is a history of alliance with, and support
of Anglo- American Imperial isn. In w’o.rld War I and World II they- wore recruit-
ing agents for the armies of U.S. and Britain. In return they got the Balfour
declaration promising a Jewish State after Y/orld wa r I. While functioning as ' T : a
agents of British Imperialism amongst tho Jewish masses they wore not permitted
to establish tho Jewish State. that British Imperialism promised on paper.- That
would have alienated the Arab national bourgeoisie competing for British support.
Zionism roccived cruns of broad from the British table, were allowed a trickling
of immigration for its labor force and the formation of c. Jewish brigade in the
British armed forces. .The British Labor tarty, the ruling imperialist party of
Britain prior to its latest election victory again promised Zionism a Jewish .

State. Again Zionism' was kept dangling on a string without its demands being
met.

The declining British Empire, unable to carry out its imperialist commit-
ments is b’owing to U.S. domination in the middle east and withdrawing 'its mili-
tary: establishments in Palestine. British Imperialism, too weak to stabilize
its oppressive rule in tho middle east, requested U.S. to take over her mandate
in Palestine, while fortifying her political, economic and military positions in
the surrounding Liddle Eastern states. The U.S, wishing to appear as the free-
dom loving big brother used thG cloak of tho United Rations to maneuver partition
of Palestine which she never intended to carry- oiot anyway, judging by the Ameri-
can state departments moves to reconsider the question in the United Rations.

This, of course is due tc the desire not tc alienate the Arab national bourgeoisie,
from whom it has, through its oil monopolists leaned vast oil interests.

V

8

Zionism, satellite of Imperial isn whichever pov;or dominate s, is at .present
in the orbit of American Imperialism, but with an ace in the hole. This ace in
the hole is tho . flirtation.; with Inper ialist Russia, which uses the vacillation
of the U.S. to pose as the 'ircal" friend of oppressed peoples' ahcl has cone out
flat- footedly for partition. Thus Zionism uses - this counter- pressure to facil-
itate its coordination into the American sphere.

The Zionist movement has become a powerful bourgeois 'nationalist movement
especially with the revival of national hatreds in Europe. Social- Democracy
and Stalinism part of Imperialism, prevented the successful culmination of pro-
letarian revolution and thus inevitably stabilized the capitalist regix.ios with
the attendant aggravation of nat ional, racial, and. religious antagonisms. This
condition enables Zionism to recruit the Jewish proletariat and declassed ele-
ments for the cadres of national- patriotism. The anti-' capitalist sentiments • .
of the Jewish masses prevented from achieving revolutionary unity with its ■
fellow oppressed of other nations by the policies of Imperial ism,, supported by
Social- Democracy and Stalinism, turn, to. the utopian dream of a Hebrew national
state 'to'tVake then equals with the other national states. Thus they only, become
a labo^ supply and military reserve for the' Zionist Bourgeoisie who in turn are ,
the satellites of Imperial ism. ;

.- • ■ : , . .-> ... The Ahab League - '

The Arab League is the dominant ..rhb "nationalist bourgeois .blob amongst the
nations-' - of. the Middle East. .It is an alliance of capitalists -oad feudal land-
lords. .It- dchioved^this domination. through; the traditional moans of mass terror
and indi v i dual ' as sas inat ion, against' any' opposition 'and ' it's leaders that showed
tho slightest desire to-. share with the Zioniet/bourgcoirie the profits from the
exploitation of. -their populations. . . ■ ’

The break-up of the Turkish Empire;, after World War I, brought the Arab nation-.,
al bourgeoisie sunder the domination .of British Imperialism. Within this sphere
it has continually competed with; ,^ionish .'for British support to retain a, greater ■ >
balance of' -local • power.- It re c.oiyes r 'thip' military aa d financial support by die
British; tio prevent .the semi-colonial bourgeoisies' Jewish and Arab from .coming to
toms and thus reducing tho lion's sharh "of the' spoils for Britain.;. -: • : r; to M

yesterday : tho Arab- ; <League .in .world War II sought to break the- shackles of *r
British Imperialist rule so that’ they might exploit their populations, without .. : t ^ ■, \
paying tribute to Great Britain. They therefore swung to the support „of the. ; a •
Axis Inpe rial ists Today U.S./.. inper ialism is' -sap Idly assuming' the role • of sup-
porting the Arab League against British ,'lriperipl ism, . whi lb it winks.f. "friendly" -t
sye in the direction; of the Zionist bourgeoisie, U*S. Imperialism is. playing
the same- role as .Britain... The Arab.- League is .the pawn of Imperial ism-.just. as . 5
Zionism, is. . ; . .• ... -I , ■ \ ’.'.I . .-. r:.:. ; . , . . ' " A • .

■ ... The Soviet Union versus the Arabs and Jew's. .1..-

Thc U.S.S.R. seeks- to play tho dominant Imperialist rclo in the Middle East,
a la Britain and the U.S.- It maintains military liasori with the Arab. League and
political support to Zionism for the .same reasons as- Britain and the. U.S,. : It
has infiltrated the Arab League areas with Soviet Mohammedan agents' and. the- .

Zionist areas v/ith Soviet Jewish 'agents. ■ The U.S.S.R, seeks to' -exploit Hi o : .- pro-
letariat and peasantry of the Middle East, Her motive, the fabulous profits from
the extraction of oil in the middle east. The drive for warn water ports is part
of that strategic goal in tho preparation .for war with the Anglo-American
Imperialists. •' .

9

The U.S.S.R. maintains an Arab communist party and a Jewish communist [/arty
which opportunistically supports tho Ar'-b-bcurgcoise and the Zionist Bourgeoise
respectively.

.1

The Soviet Union and its puppet political organizations" v.- ill not free the
Arab-Jevish masses from the "oppression, of Imperialism,: . A'.: - .

!'The Only .Road 11 -■ ' r : .

Tho only road to the solution of the crisis in the Middle East in tho orgnn-
izaticrx of a revolution.'* ry mrjciht party uniting the Arab and Jewish proletariat
for - . the. seizure- of "power and the establishment of the Dictatorship of the
rroletariat in- the Kidtlle Bast.

In Arab-Jewish •Palestine there exists ^highly. industria'-lized econony and
agriculture- creating- a definite social, class, the proletariate "This proletariat
is--ma inly "organ i zed both Arab and Jew,- into the Hictsydeiath- Trade Unions.. There
is - ; also'Itt this - area the Arab workers’; league, a., Palestinian Arab trade union
movement. The tauter ini" prerequisites exist for- the formation" of a revolutionary
marxist party that can break the' tosses from -the support of tho Zionist- 'Bourg-
eoisie and unite all the Workers on a program of proletarian revolution.

• The - areas under the domination of the Arab League are rapidly developing a
proletariat in the oil producing spheres of America, England, Prance, Holland.

The U.S. oil interests alone are- developing 'rich oil deposits in the course
of which a definable proletarian is .emerging, The' Texas’: Company and tho Standard
Oil, Company of • California' a net N. J.‘ are exploiting the subjects of- King Ibn Baud
from whom they ‘have received, oil " rights, .. . To whom, the oil interests pay 23j£ 'a
barrel -for eve ry- barrel taken out cf the country; - The world's- largest pipeline

will -bo' built from Dharan,,' Saudi Arabia northwestward through Trans- Jordan to a
Syrian port 'oh" the heditteranean. Contracts have been awarded -to five engineer-
ing firms by 'Trans- Jordan Pipeline : Co. t a 'subsidiary of Arabian" American Oil Co. , 'f

f irm- name' s f the 'Texas Co., and Standard -Oil of California. ' •>-’* 5 - A- *• -

_ . e A ;i;: -i.-'l . •• A-. .. . i. ; ’ pA. ,i,k . . v / ••- ; a • iW) JIao.-I J.: es.t .C.-’c

• 'TOius ; the” Arabian "proletariat "must .bccbmoAmore 'numerous with -the" bll e^'ibitaA'"-

tion of . the Kiddie East’, ? 1 -''

; -r ; \ct j Oi*H Util'S . 4t*'i • ; '.si 0 7

Rationalism, 'programs ’for,hatibhhl 'independence arc. polit ’icnl-hilitafy traps
for the masse s. '--Zionism’ is a' bloody trap -for the Jewish masses. " Arab national- : - a
isn a bloody trap for the Arab ikbses.v The : slo'cano'- of.-self-defoTOinatibh and
.marching separate lpkarid striking-. together kith ■the’rcolcnia.l'.'bburgeoisV are .----’ 1 5tX --
traitorous Lprograms;-'' " The Arab Jewish proletariat will ’not be able to overthrow' T " •' 1
capitalism- in khe iiidd-lb East without 'support fron.:the international working r "- r
clasa especially "th'o ' strategically situated " proletariat of' England and Amorica.' '
The 1 -worke rs 'bf England must ; br<£ k with the' .Labor Party imperialism and protest • - •
against tM oppression 'of Arab. 'and Jewish Workers and. for a Ebbl'nlist Workers
Middle East.'. The .-wbrko rs of.tl.S. rust ..break. with' its own bourgeoisie and pro-
Zionist trade union leadership and raise a mighty voice on behalf of tho emanci-
pation b’f Arab-Jowish masso'n from the yoke -of fore iffi.- ari d ' ffi. t ive oppression. '

What’- is to' be dono? " That is what rust, bo’ done or-’’’

: The creation"of an international Revolutionary Party to xihitc the working ‘
class in revolutionary solidarity with their brothers ev&pytfhdfce fighting against ‘*

the monstrous •• oppress ion of capitalism. > -■ . , • •- •>. ••.">• •*'*« •' -■ ’

‘ 'A. '

t.

iT '

10

” Evolution of the Capitalist' Regime '

■ and - . . . ' . • • * “ • ■ ■ i

The. Tasks of the Revolutionary Marxist tarty - '

Translated from . ' "

Communists. Batalgia •

l ' ’

The party affirms the given political stage is the guide in the struggle of the
workers to destroy the regime of capitalism, and establish the dictatorship of the
proletariat. The Intarnat tonal Communist tarty bases its tactics on the principles
of the- founding' congress of the 3rd International and the original elaboration
(Thesis of Romo, <ond Lyons - document of fraction abroad, outline of program and,
political, platform of the party ) of the historic evolution of capitalism- that
condition in which unfolds the practical action of the. party in direct antithesis
to all democratic formations and those that directly or indirectly revolve around
it. • . . :

The Evolution of Capitalist Regime . •

Between 1st and 2nd World War _

In .the period between the 1st and 2nd World Wars, the process of the economic
centralization of capitalism developed in direct proportion to the deep going
crises of bourgeois society. The direct systematic intervention of the totali-
tarian state, represents the unified interests of the capitalist claiss, to the ond
that the contradiction - , . internally, between production and profit be smoothed out.
The" propulsive force of this', process has an International character, imprinting ■
itself on monopoly capital ism, ' of which the. intervention of the stato is the hie-
torical continuation* - Immediately aftor the 1st World War the Polos sal no cess it ics
of reconstruction; the development of enormous productive apparatus and steady >
investment of capital; 'the national economic chaos, desparatc competition on a 1
world scale necessitated in all nations, in different measure from - one to the other,
the dicipline and initiative of the state-. But, the explosion of the .’great crisis .rj
appeared wider in proportion and more intense than in the preceding ten years ., •«

rythm of capitalist accumulation. Developed concentration and nationalization of,
industry took. place above all in : the . two major camps 'of monopoly capitalism, U.S.
sod Germany." The state intervening, in varying measure, depending - on .the - condition .
of the nation, the directive ‘center of economic planning .Uh the > part of the bourg-
eosie. This process is. a tendency in all nations, notably to 'increase the rate of
exploitation. This is verified in the totalitarian frame of the Nazi German econ-
omy (and .in measure less, radical and more elastic in Italy) a nation of high in-
dustrial development, with a weak internal . economy caught "in the contradiction b. e_ .
tween the need of expansion and the limitations of .the world market; without a mar— j
ket to, buy, without. an outlet for '.her goods*. .The democratic, Tj,,St ^inaugurated an,
era of consequent intervention in the mechanism of product ion' and ■c’xehr.hge , the, *. £ .j
■English labourites and conservatives promoted an Imperial plan, one economic or-
ganization tightly : centralized and autarchic, This process continued and. finally y;
was oriented, to a ..convergence with war economy as the only 'possible escape from
the crisis of capitalist over production, and toward the second world -war. ..-The * : -jq
discontinuation in - time and space of this general evolution in the totalitarian —w?
sense nullif ied on. the International arena the decadent '.regime of bourgeois - pro-
duction, ,In the course of the, second world war, the, f;'ce of this '-regime' appeared yr

•W<?'*yCheref substantially 'hombgene ous , and the f :r.,ula-. : -.of a war, against total i- -t;
tarlhni'sh appeare’d. pi-yty. in total itaj* i'aniem, irid.ach accentuated; arrea rs
tho. economy of all the gir’at belligerent -Stat^di ■ "Thin-? vd.lb Vi en of the- economic
’structure muet nococWrily - decide the yarallcl cv'cldtion, of-'-thi > : bl'i-tic - ..l struc— -
‘turc. . The general meaning' of groat historic , he none no. can be understood only on
an international scale,.

II

(The historical stage which we speak has been character iced on all fronts as the
effort of capitalism at economic planning; to extinguish the social antithesis;
the shock of the class-struggle, to deprive the working class of any possible in-
dependent class action; to eliminate the internal contrr diction between its regime
of production and its political plan. Thus necessitates integration; centrali-
zation and the elite isliaadeconomic activity, coordinated and propelled by ttie
states This presu. „oses centralization and political discipline.- The explosion of
the inter n '"l contradictions of the mechanism of cap it list production conditions
the violent class eruption and gives rise to an actual burning revolutionary
threat .of the proletariate After 7orld War I revolution v/as generally a direct
threat, 'more directly grave in certain countries, bee-use of complex historic fac-
tors, unbalanced productive' apparatus , shewed itself difficult to harmonize, this
strain was concretized by the violent collision of classes,, and the resultant one-
party regime ( Italian fascism, German nazism)* in the other the method of demo-
cratic parliamentarism in ' a different way provided for the absorption into the
mechanism of the- bourgeois states, the traditional workers party and mass organi-
zation, utilizes and exploits more elastically a one party regime in a structure
which gives the illusion of plurality (democracy )•«„. to the end that the domina-
tion of the capitalist class be conserved, in a more efficient '"disciplined unity
of the economic and social factors. But as in the nations where fascism was im-
posed, an urgent political transf ormaticn in the totalitarian sense; a concentra-
tion of class defense against the proletariat. The trad it ional forces of' parlia-
mentary democracy not only did not oppose, nor stop the new regime, but they bent
down everywhere to tho limit. Between democracy and fascism there is no antithe-
sis, '-but .’they converge the- interests of the classes. We remember dominant democ-
racy in other sectors; it did not avoid in the critical moments the use of violent
.anti- proletarian actions, to erect, .and Without piety to rally in a fascist manner
in defense of tho citadels of the- beurgeosie , In other ~rer.e, specially in the
last ten years, after '.'/or Id V/r.r ’ll,. the democratic regime developed the government
'of executive 'decroe. and .formed the smoke screen for authortr.rinjaism. In. the con-
flict men and- parties raise, d' the ' anti-total itrr inn fl" g, to present themselves as
the vessel of the historical continuity of parliamentary democracy with the attend-
ance of liberty and right/ They feigned to forget from IP3G--39 the . economy was ...
characterized in the whole ■ world as mere rigid control of production, ' and commerce
abroad, to transfer ‘shares of stock. In exchange for increased production;'' full
power to the presidential office..- to govern by decree; /police' regulation, .over and.

above" parliamentary government/-- / a', y *'•* "■ ' ' ■•• •■- "/;.

■id t? -n - ■: r-i,;', - :.tJ nt .-V;- ' - ' - ** . 1 ) f; / . * A ;

T' : ; --crja ‘-ptf- -.--ihe Begeherhtion- of the Workers i-arty ", •'

. ' ; • •• ’ . ' ■ an d 1 . Mass Orga nization '*■■■' ....!.• _

In tho nations whoro tho political plan' wan not • compictoly ro nouncod (bocauso
thero. was no need), the form -of .parliamentary democratic institutions and where
the workers were not able to be . disciplined and’ thoir integration with the State
not realized, as did happen in the Corp6r<atiye regime, the corporative .control '
of the productive mechanism' imposed as- historic necessity the servitude of the
state. . The political forfce and the union organism of the working ' class '' passed
from its own path of open struggle against the capitalist class to open collabora-
tion dir octly with it, ' - ’ ' • ’ ", .• " , , , .

The fascist method and democrat ic 'method oven in this converge,. The first sup- '
pressed- the political part/’ of the pi*olctariat and absorbed violently the union '
organization (many times it absorbed the bureaucracy) in the State Corporative
'machine, the second impedes' the proletarian rea'ction against fascist, violence in
elementary defense of the class and the counter-offensive, revolution after, thru
falss'anti-fascist position, to put the party and mass organization'' at the ser-
vice of and in- the interest. . of the democratic state. . .. - -

V

12 : :

The 1st 7/or Id "Air precipitated, the process, of degeneration of the parties of the
2nd International, to political collaboration, gradualism (reformism), They
passed in one jump of the 1st J.0 years of the century from classic polemic
.against .the capitalist administrations to p art icip.aticn in those government's ,

,.£ut after the war .was .called to assume responsibility even more grave in pro-
portion to the sharpness -and extent of the capitalist -crisis,-. The experiment of
adniss ion into government was concluded in a ’‘favorable manner. In the hard
years of’ social, trial in the passage from war economy to peace economy, uneraploy-
me nt, deflation, these parties and organisms had need to shoulder the burden of
the direction of the state, to go from general responsibility of national re-
construction (British Labor Po,rty) (Austrian Socialism) to greater responsibility
to maintain capitalist order with all moans, including the most brutal violence.
(Gorman Social-Democracy),, The subsequent degeneration of Social-Democracy would
not have been sufficient ..to guarantee the peaceful truinph of capitalist mancur-
ers, if it had not boon accompanied by the -fatal rupture, with the original program
and. tactics of the 3rd International by the parties of the Communist International
eliminating from the stage the politic:. 1 force of the revolutionary vanguard.

This ..phenomenon of such historic importance characterizes all. one epoch'. The
diverse factors at the base of tho failure of social-democracy differ from the
failure of the 3rd International. That is, the direct result of the entrance of
Soviet Hussia into the political and economic mechanism of world capitalism.

But in any event, tho consequences were tho sam.es— as social democracy had been
(discovered), the working class before it accomplishes its historic mission to
bury bourgeois society must defend bourgeois (conquests), renounce its maximum
goals and the elementary base of its realization. So, the Communist party, the
working class of all the world concerned to defend ("one sixth of world social-
ism*' ] oven at the cost of liquidating the program and the party, embrace the al-
ternatives of democracy or fascism, in support of Ruse i'n policy. The parabola
of this process, destructive of revolutionary value was illustrated many times
by the fundamental documents of the party, need not be repeated here, but under-
lined as a deeds ive episode (workers .and peasants government in Germany, Anglo-
Russian Committee , Kuomintang in China, Popular front in France, tho Spanish V/ar )
to the explosion of 7',’orld V/ar 11, this is the down-hill slide of all parties of
■the 3rd International, born as adversary of capitalism, now first, march side by
side and then to defend the bourgeois state. In tho 1 :.st few years, the Commu-
nist parties began on a world scale (as in the experiment of Republican Spain)
not only as parties of government reform, not only collaboration, but as a party
of v/ar.

In the convergence of two parabolas, tho space botween is filled in a pacific
manner in the democratic sector, violently in the fascist sector. The economic
machine, disciplined in such manner, more' or les3 elastic, by the stato, can al-
ready count on synchronizing of all her gears, and the working class ceases to
represent an effective threat to its functioning, is ono factor. The German
social-demo ere. cp- madG the workers councils and the unions constitutional organs
of the V/eimar Republic; the experiment of th6 popular front in France concluded
with the transformation of the Union Confederations into an institution to liqui-
date strikes, and disorient tho working class movement. So, In Spain the Confed-
eration of Labor dominated on one hand by the Social-Communists and the Anar-
chists on the other assumed their role , first, in the direction of Ihe State
with tho aim secondly, to break tho insurrectionary movement, and they aro
consequently equal as the dominant forces of Imperialist V/ar,

13

III - Soviet Russia passes to the

International Capitalist Front

The central phenomena of the period botvecn the 2 ore -. t wars is always the ar-
raying of Russia on the International Capitalist, front. This decisive historic
event- itself, in the frame of the world evolution of capitalism is one aspect— -
certainly it is pregnant with grave. consequences of the International defeat of
the proletariat, after the groat revolutionary battle following the war. In fact
it' was the reflex of the revolutionary wave in the sectors more vital to Im-
perialism, reacting to the intransigoant battle lead by the Russian proletariat;
precisely at that delicate moment, the 11, E.*. was conceived as a transitory stop
to give more vigor internally to the economic and social forces of the nation,
but retarding tho march toward Socialism. Inside the party the revolutionary
current was dragged down and submerged after the, heroic years. In the post-
revolutionary -period, tradition and compromise. Those forces transfer themselves
on ’ the International piano into tho International struggle of the proletariat,
reflecting the Russian situation.

The transition compromise (U*E.i. ) of that situation provoked the last revolu-
tionary flame consumed in net; : and more grave defeat, pre judical to the course .
not yet concluded, of tho class struggle in Russia, and to orient, toward the
liquidation of the revolutionary guidance of the dictatorship. .

(To be Continued)

A ... ;

If

, ... ... 14 - .

■ ' ' delocdacy

■ .1 Contract Betwoon- the pos ition of Lenin that of Trotsky

.V/ithout fail, all the corrupt " labor" lc ode rs P.nd hire lines of the bourgeoisie
justify their treachery by invoicin'? the nar.es of Larx, Lenin or othor dead
revolutionary loaders.. . This is; i.r.dc possible- because the valiant f ightcr s for
the cause of the working class are not able to rice from the crave and shout;
Less lours Blums, Stalins, Trotclcys, you lie.,? 3 But whereas the tongues of the
leaders of socialism remain silent, their writings (if only there be found
people- rill .ins .and ..'capable to uncover the material) - spec.lt out with, pro ate st
indignation against .-the policies and - pract ices of the shameless opportunists.

For the -present', .vs licit ourselves- to showing the difference between Lenin's
position -.on ; bcurCQbi's.-.d'&mo.cracy and .Trotsky's. Vie clo this -because of the
erroneous conclusion many workers have formed in viewing Stalin as the reviser-
of leninism and Trotsky its rightful inheritor. The quotations demonstrate
conclusively 'that this- is not the case; that Trotsky, f .r-from following in
Lenin's foatstops.-yis -aping -Stalin; all down alone the line.

LEITIlIs - " The bourgeoisie., whose rule the Socialists are now defend inc in talking
agalKFt ■'•dictatorship- in General' and; standing -up for .'democracy in general', has con
conquered power ..in- thie advance:! countries at the price of ft number:- of revolts*

Civil wars, forcible suppression of. Kings, feudal lords* slave owners -and of all --
their efforts at restoration. The Socialists of all countrios havo explained to
tho. .popple thou oandc of millions of times in their hooks, in. their pamphlets, .
in tlia resolutions of their oongreo.soo, .in the ir agitational speeches, tho .class r 1
character of these bourgeois revolutions -and of this bourgeois dictatorship.' ;
Therefore tho present defense of bnurgeoif- democracy u nder the appearanoo of. m.'...
spec-chcs about • 'democracy - in General* and the present shrieks and cr lea against v
the. dictatorshipwpf the proletariat in tho shape of cries about .'dictatorship 1
in general' arp.'-a direct- betrayal of socialism, in fact mean pass inc over to them
side of the bourgeoisie., -donying the right of th6- -proletariat -to -its cwn, - pr-olo-' : *
•tar lain, ^.volution, -..defending bourgeois reformism at the: ve ry .historical’ qoneht
when bourgeois reformism: throughout the whole world has; collapsed and -when : e
war has created- a. 'revolutionary -situation."- (From the Theses and. Re port' on'"*?^
Bourgeois Democracy and. the Dictatorship of the Irolctariat at the First Congress’
of the 'Communist .Jntomati qnal- emphasis, ours) - : ' ' ' r- ) ‘ ■ J

TROTSKY; "The difference between Negrin and Franco is the difference between

rotton bourge pip democracy and fascia... ’ • ;

*' • ■;< > 'ia " . Evorywhore and .always , 'whore and. when revolutionary workers 'arc 'riot L'.'m.;.’
powerful enough. -iFxiediately to overthrow the bourgeois regimo, they defend from -
fascism evon -the rotton bourgeois democracy , and especially. do they defend .their ''
own poE-i-ticno inside bourgo o is democracy," (From. October 195.7 Internal .Bulletin -."
of the' Trotskyists, - fren an' article entitlod "Lnswors to Questions Concerning'"- 1 a-.'.’
The Spanish Situation"- our emphasis) • •,' ) L

. - ..S 1 - . - : J . 'Ip “... ! S. )

Hqtice. the. difference. betwoen Lenin's- way of- putting, the question and. Trotsky's,' -'i.
Lenin, condemns, ;t;ho.E e wha-.stand for the .'defense of cap italiat democracy;- Trotsky ypp
opa.nly. declares;- .that. -the -pfoletariat should defend, mind you, a bourgeois democ-
racy which he admits to.be rotton. --'One can very well understand the locic of 'yd/
Soc ial-Democracy which glorifies capital 1st democracy and subsequently defends ’ it.
But to adroit th^t,, -capitalist democracy is rotten and then urge the v;orkcrs to
defend it- that is the greatest height that treachery has ever attained J J

. 15

Lenin; "liarx in particular, who best of nil estimated the importance of the
Conoxne, in his analysis. of it showed the exploiting character of bourgeois,.,,.,,
democracy and of bourgeois parli'-mentarlanism, by which the oppressed classes cot
the right once every few years to decide which representatives of the possessing
classes shall ’re-present and 'suppress •’ tho people in pari lament ...... , All modern

bourgeois democratic republics., including the German, which the traitors to social-
ism, deriding the truth, call a proletarian republic, preserve this state appara-
tus. In this way it is again and again fully and clearly- confirmed that the
shouts in defense of ’democracy in general 1 arc in fact a defense of the bourg-
eoisie and of its exploitin': privileges."

Trotsky: "The workers defend bourgeois 'democracy, however, not by methods of

bourgeois democracy (reoplos Front, electoral .blocs, government coalitions, etc.)
but by their own methods: that is , by the methods of revolutionary class struggle ,
Thus by participating, in, the military struggle against fascism, they continuo
to defend at the same time their own organizations , their rights, and the ir inte-
rests from the bourgeois democratic government’* (Ibid) ' *

Again,' Trotsky is at odds with' Lenin, Bourgeois demo cracy, which Lenin- ;ton..ed
the hidden dictatorship of capital, is going .to be' defended by Trotsky, -.by prole-
tarian' me th'odsj t:*agine, f -defending a capitalist dictatorship with- "methods -of '-
, revolutionary, .class struggle". Truly,’ there is no end tc Trotsky’s treachery.

As 'to do fending, the working, class organizations by fighting "against fascism.' -■
under the "leadership, of capitalist democratic generals- is this not. the line
used -by Ie,qn Blum. in ensnaring the French proletariat to die on the battlefield?

Lenin : "The Dreyfus affair in. Republican France, the bloody massacres of strik-

ers'- by h ired gangs armed by the capital , jot* ^ the -€wn/> -an'i-d.nrsnniia'!; i a vr, pc hi -i c. .
of Americr. these .and thousands of similar facts shew that, truth, which 1 the
bourgeoisie in .vain tries to hide, that is, that in the most .'democratic republics
terror-and the -dictatorship '-of the bourgeoisie rule in fact, showing themselves ■.
openly’ evory tine whdn.lt appears -to the exploiters that the, power of .capital.- is .-g
trembling. j.o». The imperialist war, of I914-I9I8 finally exposed, even- to', the £ •)
backward' workers this -true chr.rac'tbr.. of .bourgeois democracy ipeven in the freest . ...
republics'; as being the .character of the. .dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. .... -in -.-
the aaii’.'ofj.^.freedom and .equality’ , tho bourgeoisie waged this, war, in the nene- of;-,
'freedori 'and, oquality ’ the war -profiteers grow rich to an unhoard-pf .-extent. ■ Ho . z
efforts' of the' ye How ;Bome International can conceal from the masses the exploit
ting character of- bourgeois freedom,, bourgeois equality, bourgeois-- democracy now. v
exposed to,- the. end." (Ibid) . . ■ .... ■■ , y .■> ait "•

’ " . . . ’ v , . • iuajri t.piryswdaO'J 1 ; n

Trotsky: s ^Bourgeois .democracy ;-de composes - together with cap itbiisnv-whichenggndered
it, -The very ’possibility of fascist insurrection against' bourgeois democracy -As-

against7fdscism ; ’is only a. tactical, episode . submitted to ,-our '"line ,' t.O. -overthrow • v
bourgeois "democracy and establish the dictatorship^ of the ’ proletariat.", . -,..b -,r<g.

(Ibid-- Trotsky ’c (emphasis) • ' <' ... . ... : m . - ' ; -

You .see, the, lino., is to overthrow 'bourgeois 'denpcracyy so .claitis Trotsky. And in-.j
order" -to-' overthrow' it, the tactic employed is to defend it i f .Lenin, if he were v,
alive, would laugh in his famous way of loud laughter. , But; aside from laughing,
the- workors must . expose such Trotskyist react J.onary-' formulas

4 ‘ ' ....... .. .. .- "

16 ' '

A Reply to Ignazio Silone- '

The following critical analysis' is based on a recent speech by Ignazio '

Silone -to.-- the international ran oiu'b Conference at 33as3.e* In the U.S. the
English 'translation .by Brio .luostacher was published in the Hew Leader,, January
17 th, . IS48-, The theme of 'the s pooch is "The Roio and Pretensions of the

Intellectual 1 ' a, .

? •

The. historic evolution "of capitalism to the stage of state • capitalism,
where- in .the economy and culture of society is essentially centralised by tho
bourgeois state apparatus, has stimulated the use of tho Word M collect! ve" » Itc.':

' usogo’has been facilitated because it seems, on superficial observation, to '.denote •
the presence or absence of Intellectual 'freedom. The term-, ".collective society" .•
originally was a semi- poetic rather th n scientific formulation to describe the
rule^.of the working class ih the . U.S. S.R-. based on the victory. of the Russian :
revolution of Oct*. 1017. -In pthcr words, the phrase f "collect ive. society" had
a revolutionary working class significance. During -'this revolutionary, upsurge , $•
and its .revolutionary aftermath, this "collective society" gave, birth to '.some of
the most, daririg, creative achievmcnts in art .and literature* .To this day, Ihe
Croat ivo experimental ism of the revolutionary artists and writers of the October • .
revolution reverberates throughout the bourgeois world.. Even at this writing,
at the Lus.cum of Kodcrn Art ih How York City an exhibition of Constructivist
sculpture in taking place, showing the work of E'.bo And' 'Jrcvsnor* Their e.xpori-
monto in constructivism wore bogun and developed in the • tmosphcrc of a cqIIcc-
t ive. society" , which under the rulo of the revolutionary proletariat allowed
intellectual freedom, ' *

'•Since Stalinism lignidated the Russian revolution, there has been established.,
in Russia, • state capitalism. A regime in which intellectual' freedom- disappeared,. -
along -with .workers ownership' and 1 democratic control of the moans 6f product ion*.- ■ ■
The, decay of the UcS.S.R, ; its. imperialist' "development; the rise- of Ho.zism’Cnd
Fascism has. influenced a lahge.'. section of the intellectual strata of ttic western
bourgeois society to view the idea of a "'collect ive society" without regard' to v
which social, class rule s,. Thus Communism. and Fascism are lumped together i
falsely identifying Stalinism with Communism and therefore making an. amalgam
of revolutionary communism and,., nazij" fascist -totalitarianism; ...a y.

The foregoing is the historical background to 'one ' of the opening 'remarks; in
Ignazio S ilonas.* speech, .to. the effect, and v/e quote - "for the reading of a
book, -even- in- the most-'coll'ectivize'd. society', will' always be" h personal: and' f ’
solitary act, a quiet conversation between two men." •' Tho 'writing of a .b'oplc, -' :
and its, perusal by a. reader maybe physically private - acts, but the creation'.,
of a work of art .and its appreaciKtion are do cisevely '.Influenced by the' 'general- . ,
ized experience of human, society. Creating the art form and the taste- of Hike v
individual. Silone *s arbitrary separation of 'the hrt 1st and appro actet ion.' •£» m.
the social milieu at this , point in his speech, in order to allude negatively
to "..collective society'! '3.S' an into lie et.ua 1 habit developed with the campaign /.of
tho bourgeoisie. -to dissuade the workors from overthrew ing bourgeois "rdemo 9 rat.ic"-,--. :
society*.,, ... ; .7' r ' I ; . 1' V ‘ '• , " ' " ft -• 1.

The liquidation of the- ftusslah revolutionV'-'and' the : lack of successful-. prole-
ta-rian- revolution .is, suing. from Imperialist '.'hr II on the one hand, and the mon-
strous . oppression /of. victoHohs,^ imperialism, bn the ethor "hand.: has filled
ignazio Silone and, his '“'follows with" despair:, Unable to' accept 'Stalinism, .or tho ;
slpye democracy, of. the iVest and'; re jecting 'the working class revolutionary- thoory ,

I.

17

and. practice Silone boats a retreat to metaphysical abs r lutes that arc to take
the place of the class struggle,,

The first "absolute” is "that invisible underground country without frontiers
which we created,; together with some who are with uu here today and others who
are no longer alive,; during the long years of persecution* that country of which
we wish to remain free and loyal Cltlzenr,." ’This "invisible underground country
without frontiers^- that the anti-fascist intellectual camaraderie developed in
the years of Was fascist persecution is non-existent. There was social contact,
but in so far as the concept of international intellectual solidarity .and loyalty
was concerned 9 that war- very" tenuous indeed. The "invisible underground country
without frontiers" of which the anti-fascist intellectuals were free and loyal
citizens is revealed to be a moral ideal of Ignazio Silone rather thru the real
state of mind of the anti-fascist intellectuals.

Silone- T s succeeding .remarks bear out. this contention.

"'.That, in short I intend to say, is that it will be agreed on mature reflec-
tion that writers, artists end intellectuals in general have no right whatever
to boast of any disinterested farsighted or courageous part played by them in
the sad decades through which we have passed." "Events have once more demon-
strated that, the professional exercise of letters or of the arts does not in
itself; provide any guarantee, of moral integrity or strength of character.

Events have shown that whenever &' crisis has overwhelmed c. ruling class the
majority of writers .and artists -have not- remained immune from 'the aberrations
and pcrploxities -inseparable from that state . of . crisis."

Silone admits culture to be in decay, . but does not connect it with the decay
of capitalism. " (t/o are fully familiar. with the uneven relationship between ttio
development of the forces of production and culture. But in contemporary society
these linos have converged] - , Because to Ignazio 1 Silone the history of nature and
society is dominated by. the "hero", the individual, culture, the humanities,
moral integrity, assume • mo tnphys.ical attire. -Thus, "If re widen our perspective
to include the whole of the educated section of society, wo can say that those
same events have demonstrated the complete ineffectiveness of the so-called
humanities, that „ip to say, of those very studios that should by definition have
a formative offset on character. " le it because ho stands aghast at the picture
ho paints, wishing to savo tho "prostigo" of his profession that he hastily adds {
"But I hasten to add that .it- should --not be thought that this is a feature •

characteristic of, or poculi.ar to our tines." , -. ■

... • •• ' - I..- W i.Vf

■’ • " ■’ .' •' - '•'* • • ■' i - - > - i ■ j .

I/e ' haston to'- add the so. humanities are taught, to enable' the student to go out '■
in the .capital ist. world with a veneer of polish.. and 'culture in order to achieve
the predator;' ains of money and fane# That while the content of these ; studies
have a positive value our. system of educr.tien: reflects the exploitative needs of
capitalist society,. At a. .certain -point therefore even the development of science,'
art literature is arrested 'by the dictatorship of the market., , ' ; . 4

Liberty and Slavery become, non-.objectivt* Abstractions' ' Silone tc-lls his
audlonco, "The choice, between -libe rty- and slavery presents itself to the writer
in the form of a choice between, has ■sincerity -and his willingness to conform.

That choice 'has to be. made at a. level of the . mind at which literary or artistic
notions or aesthetic sensibility count for vary little."

Here is illustrated the extreme specialization.'. deriving from" the division of
labor in the anarchic, pyatem of .capitalist production. Ignazio Siione"u'nderst'-ndc
the effect of society on the sensitive nervous system- of the artist. and' writer,
but only to separate them and their art' from, society rather than integrate then.

: .18

This is .-stating -the problem in generalized terns, let us try to understand it
by a none detailed examination.

In so far an art and literature bee cue uorc and more imprisoned in stylistic
foroi-liic to titillate the "escapist" tastes of - tho bourgo :»is and potty-
bourgeois, the writer and artist would hr-.vo to think outside the frai.;c of hie
artistic notions to choose botwoon his sincerity and his desire to Conform, -But
that is not the problem. The problem is to search for those forms and symbols ■
that most vitally, clearly express the dynamics of contemporary society. These
forms' and symbols can only bo fresh, innovating, if searched for in the corporeal
world, and Its rythm extracted from the local character of rxn, ovents, and
thG ir -physical environment and related to the general character of the present
day capitalist world, »7e make a sharp distinction between the vulgar -real is r.i
that- the Stalinist Stats and the Truman state advocate, \'!e fight to the death .
art by'.’, decree, as we fight decrees against the proletariat. The ■ search for and
experimentation with forms .of expression in art and literature in the social . ;
environment which is the environment of the industrial worker and agricultural,
worker will load the cultural worker of sincerity, to ally his strata- with, the
aims of 'the' proletarian revolution. "Ho will not go outside his art but integrate
his art with the cauao of socialism.

BO cognizing tho desire of 'the intellectual strata to achieve popularity,
money, 'fame, success in the opportunistic, sense of the word, and emphasizing its
fear of -unpopularity, a fear which might, be a field in the. studies of abnormal
psychology, Ignazio Silsno becomes more definite about.what. ho means.- by the ■

remark "intellectuals have no right whatever to boast of any disinterested,

farsighted' or -courageous part played- by the:., in the sad decades through which ••
wo have passed;" - "\7nat - Iancan to . say is that, now tha t the war is- over, nobody
can deny that tho usg made by the military leaders of the work of those writers
and of the eloquent .slogans invented by them was identical with the use made
of this or that war weapon. In fact, as s:on as there was no more uso for them,
the principles of liberty, human dignity and universal security were put back
into store, just as if they wore tanks. That is why wo now have this peace,
which is not peace but an uncertain armistice."

■ The social patriotic role of the intclligenstia is deplored after the fact, ■
Of course Ignazio Silone was one of them in shackling the- proletariat to the
Imperialist War machines and in preparing the;:: for the Imperialist peace.

Silone tries to impart life to liberty, human dignity and universal security
independent of State and economy, a life on the plane of a moral absolute,
similar to the ethical concopt of tho "categorical imperative" of Emmanual Kant.
This is a concept that in the case of Ignazio Silone represents a desire to
ignore the material development of states and economies and the effect on be-
haviour patterns that produce the morality of a given epoch. Kant broke -from
tho authoratarian god who dispensed virtue and put the seat of morality in human
personality* albeit a metaphysical humanity. Kant stopped forward, but Silone
is stepping back to Kant.

Silone says, "at no moment or phase of the v/ar did I doubt that the solidar-
ity in fact established botwoon the cause of democratic liberties and that of
a definlto bloc of powers, though it might be a highly important historical coin-
cidence and a useful opportune and necessary alliance, -was not and could not be,

complete or permanent" . Very Badly he remarks " never identify the cause

of moral valuos with that of a state."

This is the essential argument left social- democracy has used since World
War I to World War II to hand the working class over to the Democratic Imperialist
gentry.

19

Does Ignazio Silono force t that the abetr' ct moral values he- expounds represents
a revolution that is finished, the bourgeois- democratic revolution? Does ho
not want to remoubor that the "Eights of Iw-.n" arc the righto of the Source oio ie
to continue thc-ir oppressive rule ovc-r the work inc class? Doec he stand afraid
of the only choice for the sincere artist, that is to orfc together with the
proletariat for the revival of marxism. revolutionary communism, the vessel for
the continuation of the ere t tradition that gives value to human personality?
Farther, he says, "Only by the sacrifice of intellectual honesty is it possible
to identify truth with that of an army."

T/e answer! Vfoether or not in your own nind and some ■ of your colleagues you
identify positive moral values, or truth with an army or state, your alliance
with a definite bloc of powers was identification with the state and the army,-
Your system of metaphysical moral values is shorn of all their illusory worth.

Your MidKiniaaMtlhj dthGs.Mde^ajoisit i£,' Ailuifo.pf dCT®ntoS?%S>j'»otx f«o aJ^icv^cfeiVrijth
tfaii jxbt&tmxzgstt). iai figjfc'erauey afh jaiojxSlsw^:; MS® 23ft*r^>uj<i .*J?s I nap/

tiod to totalitarian Stalinist Easoia, the police 'military dictatorship of
Smigly Bydz of 1-0 land, and the whole system of police military dictatorships
of Latin and South America and tho Feudal and somi-Fcudal States of Asia, Lest
wo forget you were also allied to the vast systems of colonial oppression of the •
great powers,

•How that your ideological orgasm is over you arc left weak and exhausted and
plaintively as!: the intellectual mistresses of the bourgeois not to forget the
oppressed,’ "In China, _ the coolies, in Couth Aner ica-pe one s , among the Arabs- ....
fellahinj or they can bo called simply proletarians or Jews, \

Yes , Ignazio S'ilone , do not forget the oppressed, but in net forgetting,
wha-t do you propose? Charity? Abstract moral .values? Or the Proletarian
Revolution, .. •.

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